Give NDA 5 more years to fulfil promises; Swamy

Mumbai, July 9: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said the NDA government at the Centre needed to be given another five-year term in order to fulfil its promises, but went on to add that the country's economy was "not in a good state" as he was not the finance minister.

He was speaking at a function titled "India's Grand Narrative", organised by the Virat Hindustan Sangam here.

"Economic development is not going to bring in votes. (Former prime minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayeeji used 'India Shining' as his government's campaign motto but failed. The BJP promised reassertion in its faith (Hindutva) and a corruption-free government. Hence, it won so many seats in 2014," the Rajya Sabha member said, adding, "Hindutva is going to help the BJP."

Swamy said the ruling party had started honouring the promises it had made to the electorate, adding that it needed another five years to finish the task.

"I will not say that we have fulfilled all the promises we made in 2014, but we have started honouring them. We need five more years to complete what we have started," he said.

Striking a controversial note ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which is scheduled to begin on July 18, Swamy said some bureaucrats were "sabotaging" the government's good work.

"This is the first time we have had so many corrupt people being prosecuted. They may not have been convicted yet. We have had an invariant system for 70 years, due to which, today we find bureaucrats in our government sabotaging our work," he said.

"I had promised to reveal some names, but since the Parliament session is coming up, I am not going to give this opportunity to the Congress to use my statement against my own government," the BJP leader said.

Stating that after the Parliament session, he would reveal the names at a public meeting here, Swamy said, "But by that time, (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi might even remove them, so I will not have to give those names."

Adding to Modi's recent comment that the Congress was like a "bail gaadi" now, punning on the legal term "bail" and the Hindi term for bullock carts, Swamy said the "bail gaadi" was headed to "Tihar Vihar" (jail).

Hitting out at the opposition party, he said according to WikiLeaks, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had gone to the US Embassy in 2006 and told the officials there that his party had concluded that "Hindu terror" was more dangerous than the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

"And they (Congress) did a somersault on the Samjhauta Express (blast). When the blast happened, the Manmohan Singh government wrote to the US saying it appeared to have been done by the LeT.

"The US, after collecting its own data, went to the UN and declared the LeT as a terrorist organisation," Swamy added.

"...and after the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, Chidambaram became the Union home minister and wrote a fresh FIR. We had two FIRs running at the same time (on the Samjhauta Express blast).

"One (FIR) which says the LeT had done it and in another, a celebrated military official (Col Prasad) Purohit -- who was given the task to target and prepare a dossier on an Islamic terrorist -- was picked up, tortured and jailed for nine years, because they wanted to prove that Hindu terror exists," the BJP leader alleged.

Taking a swipe at Chidambaram, Swamy said he was teaching the senior Congress leader what "real Hindu terror" was.

"Now, of course, I am teaching Chidambaram what real Hindu terror is. Of course I won't be cruel, so I will send his wife, his son and daughter-in-law (to jail). I am not going to be cruel to the Congress party. I will send many to jail so their next working committee meet can take place in Tihar jail," he said sarcastically.

Speaking about the country's economy, Swamy, an economist and statistician, said, "The economy is certainly not in a very good state as I am not the finance minister."

Rooting for the removal of different types of cess, the BJP leader said the only cess that was needed and the one people would happily pay was for financing cow shelters.

"I am sure people will happily pay such a cess," he told the gathering in response to a query.